Air Force Grounds Flights Of Stealth Plane After Crash

The Nation - In Brief

December 22, 2004

LAS VEGAS -- Flights of a next-generation stealth fighter were grounded nationwide Tuesday while investigators at Nellis Air Force Base combed the wreckage of one that crashed Monday during testing, the Air Force said. The pilot of the F/A-22 Raptor ejected and was taken to a hospital. He was not seriously injured, said Capt. Maureen Schumann, an Air Force spokeswoman. Schumann said the crash, the first of an Air Force F/A-22, is being investigated. It was not immediately known what caused the crash or when the planes would resume flying, she said.